This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lundberg, P. Articles by Vogel, H. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lundberg, P. Articles by Vogel, H. J. Agricola Articles by Lundberg, P. Articles by Vogel, H. J.

Metabolism and Enzymology

Phosphorus-31 and Nitrogen- 14 NMR Studies of the Uptake of Phosphorus and Nitrogen Compounds in the Marine Macroalgae Ulva lactuca¹

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4, Department of Plant Physiology, University of Lund, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Cytoplasmic phosphomonoesters and inorganic phosphate, as well as vacuolar inorganic phosphate and polyphosphates, gave rise to the major peaks in ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the marine macroalgae Enteromorpha sp., Ceramium sp., and Ulva lactuca which were collected from the sea. In contrast, NMR-visible polyphosphates were lacking in Pylaiella sp. and intracellular vacuolar phosphate seemed to act as the main phosphorus store in this organism. In laboratory experiments, polyphosphates decreased in growing U. lactuca which was cultivated in continuous light under phosphate-deficient conditions. In contrast, the same organism cultivated in seawater with added phosphate and ammonium, accumulated phosphate mainly in the form of polyphosphates. When nitrate was provided as the only nitrogen source, accumulation of polyphosphates in the algae decreased with increasing external nitrate concentration. From the chemical shift of the cytoplasmic Pi peak, the cytoplasmic pH of superfused preparations of Ulva was estimated at 7.2. The vacuolar pH, determined from the chemical shifts of the vacuolar Pi and the terminal polyphosphate peaks, was between 5.5 and 6.0. The intracellular nitrate and ammonium levels in U. lactuca were determined by ¹⁴N NMR. Both nitrogen sources were taken up and stored intracellularly; however, the uptake of ammonium was much faster than that of nitrate.